about as well as what he writes.
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LATEST BOMB STORY
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No remarks to bear malice, no axe to of life. It is true, of course, that the grind, and no libel actions please! building of speculative blocks of apart- Trajan hopes to become an esta- ments has passed its peak, but of the blished press personality, to write office and commercial type of building And no about anything and everything to do there is much to be done.
harm will result in a little slowing with building, knowing he has an audience interested in who he writes down of the pace as it will give har- rassed designers a chance to consider their schemes in more detail. That more consideration is necessary is evident on every hand; both Govern- The news at the end of April of an ment building and the work of private
architects unexploded bomb on the Peak was a
speaking in a general nine days wonder, and fizzled out way - are becoming stereotyped. with the bang! of the dynamite. There are other materials than However, it could have given rise to renderings and Shanghai plaster, and a nice legal wrangle. Suppose the there must be other structural forms new building being erected on the site than those requiring vertical fins. had been substantially damaged, who If a new approach can be found would be responsible for the cost of to these problems one building in re-building? The Government; the Kowloon is to be fixed with aluminium War Department, being the chaps who over its lower storeys as a start exploded the bomb; the Police, for then the boom should continue, as the not removing it; the Japanese, for local business man is ever ready to dropping it; the Building Owner, or "go one better". The Daily Express has its William the poor Contractor, under the usual Hickey, the Architects Journal has clause making him responsible for Astragal. To be in keeping with its everything? contemporaries
But all went off well, and we now The news of the Government pur- seems to be a good idea the Hong wait to find another; a bigger and chase of Murray Parade ground is Kong & Far East Builder starts in this better bomb, before the question can welcome, but not if the only lines of issue a new feature by Trajan.
•TRAJAN'S
COLUMN
NEWS ...
NOTES
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TOPICS
and because
it
be settled.
con-
HOMES AND SURROUNDINGS
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MURRAY WORRY
thought are (a) to widen Garden Road, and (b) to develop the are with high density commercial build- ings willy-nilly.
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BUILDING EXHIBITION
"Trajan" is an independent tributor to whom we have given free rein. We do not necessarily agree The exhibition sent out by the with his comments and opinions, but Royal Institute of British Architects piece of monumental planning. Let Here is the Colony's chance for a having a great respect for his know and presented in the showrooms of the us grasp this chance and create a new ledge of local conditions, his archi- British General Electric Co., Ltd. by city centre to be the envy of the world. tectural training and his excellent the Hong Kong Society of Architects judgment, we feel that his opinions was a little disappointitng. The photo- will command our, and your, interest. graphs were, of course, first class, and they were well presented. But if these had formed the core of a display indi-
The Building Exhibition to be held cating the achievements in the United at. Olympia, London, in November Kingdom of architectural firms work- this year will be the 50th such event. The Exhibition originated at the The original of this column was ing on the smaller dwellings, and the the centre of a Forum, around which Hong Kong Society of Architects had Agricultural Hall, Islington, and is arguments for and about raged during supported this with evidence of similar now the outstanding event of its kind in the world. It shows current trends an earlier era. So will this new achievements here plus examples of column be a forum of expression of what the architects could do if they with building, in an area of 350,000 in more than fifty industries connected views; sinister, sarcastic, objective or were allowed, the net gain to the with building, in an area of 350,000 This year's Exhibition, provocative. Views gathered at gos public and profession would have square feet.
which will be opened by the President sip time, over cocktails, and at formal been great indeed. The opportunity of the R.I.B.A. on November 13th,
Why "Trajan" and Column"?
"Trajan's
discussions. As the Roman Forum was, however, missed.
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HAVE WE PASSED THE PEAK ?
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lays special emphasis on the British was the centre of city life in its parti- Roll on the Festival of the Arts
building industries contribution to cular period, so this feature must be the architects' chance to advertise.
export, which last year totalled over the centre of building life here in
£81 million. Overseas organisations Hong Kong. But, above all, Trajans
concerned with building are planning Column (the original) was an architec-
group visits, some of which will use tural unity, and this contemporary The Far Eastern Economic Review specially chartered aircraft. So far column must be an architectural unity was quite depressing in its article no move seems to have been made -at one with the profession, the covering the second half of 1956, when here for such an excursion, but there engineers, the contractors, the Govern- it gave the present building boom is no reason why some enterprising ment, and the indispensable client. in Hong Kong another year or so travel agency should not start now.
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